We were warned.
They told us it would take at minimum a week to recover from jetlag when we returned to the States. They weren’t exaggerating. In fact it took me closer to two weeks to feel relatively normal after moving my body clock forward 13 hours, getting used to that and then turning the clock back. [...]
Posts under ‘Travel tips’
Jetlag from China: Expect a week or more of misery
The best way to get custom-made clothing
Dr. Rasheed advised us to go to Sally’s Tailor shop at the Yashow Clothing Mart in Beijing to get suits, shirts or dresses made to our measurements. With Dr. Rasheed’s help, we were able to get suits made for 700 yuan (about $100) and dress shirts for 100 yuan (about $15). I believe these prices are [...]
General advice
1) Do not exchange money at the airport unless you plan to leave the country from that same airport. There is a service charge for exchanging at the airports when most hotels will exchange for free. Also, most of us spent $500-700 during the course of the two week trip.
2) Pack light enough to be [...]
Haggling: A real-life demonstration of comparative advantage
The price of just about everything, except the menu at the Western fast food chains for example, is negotiable. Over the past week and a half we’ve become pretty good at haggling. It’s something you have to just dive in and try, and if you get taken, you learn from it and do better next [...]
Adjusting to Chinese food
Chinese cuisine is wonderful. Even so, for many Westerners who visit China, the hardest obstacle to overcome is the food.
It’s not that the food tastes bad. In fact, most of the dishes I’ve tried have been delicious. It’s just so different from what we’re used to. It’s prepared differently and it’s served differently.
We’ve been told [...]